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In this lesson, students will research various natural disasters. They will then create a family preparedness plan and identify key items to include in a survival kit in the event of a natural disaster. Students will specifically study tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and severe thunderstorms in this lesson.

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LESSON CONTENT

Lesson Plan Template:

General Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?

The students will understand how and why natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, wild fires, floods and tsunamis are formed and the potential hazards of each disaster.

The students will be able to produce a preparedness plan tailored to the individual needs of their own family and summarize from research why having such a plan in place is important.

Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?

Prior knowledge standard: SC.2.E.7.5: State the importance of preparing for severe weather, lightning, and other weather related events.

Students should understand what a natural disaster is.

It would be beneficial if students had some previous understanding of preparing for an event.

Students should have already learned about weather cycles and formations.

Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?

Why do you think it is important to be prepared for a natural disaster?

What are some uncontrollable events you and your family might need to plan for? (no electricity, unavailability of food and supplies in stores, etc.)

In what ways might people prepare for a natural disaster?

Why is it important to prepare for a natural disaster?

Have you discussed with your family what you might do in the event of a natural disaster? If so, what plans did your family make? How will these plans help you in the event of a natural disaster?

Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?

Engage students by showing the following video. Do not give students any direction before viewing the video, other than to pay attention and observe carefully. http://safeshare.tv/w/IAKhZDAJJR

After playing the video, ask students to share what they think about the following questions (Formative Assessment):

What was this video showing? (various examples and pictures of natural disasters)

What might all of these natural disasters have in common? (devastate communities, wreck homes and cars, hurt people, etc.)

What can people do to help them survive events like these if they happen where they live? (prepare for them)

In what ways might people prepare for a natural disaster? (elicit students responses and accept all that make sense such as buying fresh water, buying non-perishable foods, having extra batteries, generators, board windows, put out sandbags)

Why is it important to prepare for a natural disaster? (elicit students responses and accept all that make sense such as having plenty of spare food and water can save your life, protecting your windows can save your life or your house, making sure you fill your car up with gas can ensure you make it to safety, etc.)

Have you discussed with your family what you might do in the event of a natural disaster? If so, what plans did your family make? How will these plans help you in the event of a natural disaster? (answers for this will vary)

Explain to students that in this lesson they will explore various natural disasters in order to create a family preparedness plan. Creating a preparedness plan can help them survive in the event that a natural disaster happens where they live. A family preparedness plan outlines a strategy of action for a family to take in the event of a natural disaster or emergency and can include many things. Some examples would be:

What items to pack if evacuating.

Where to evacuate to.

What to do with family pets.

Emergency phone numbers.

Gassing up the family car.

Stocking up on non-perishable foods and fresh water.

Show and discuss the following video clips about various natural disasters that would be most common to Florida to engage students in the severe weather that will be discussed throughout this lesson. Ask students the questions that follow after each video is shown. Elicit student responses and record them on a class anchor chart. A circle map with the heading, “Preparing for Natural Disasters” would be a good example to use for this lesson. Note: An anchor chart is a documenting technique to help review and/or reference a particular topic being studied or discussed in a classroom. An anchor chart should be completed with student input. An anchor chart can be formatted as a list, a graphic organizer, or many other ways.

What do you think people should do to prepare for a severe thunderstorm?

Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?

Students will now research various natural disasters. The teacher may allow students to choose their own natural disaster or further engage students by printing the attached scenario cards and allowing students to choose one at random. Whatever scenario the student pulls will be the natural disaster they will research.

Allow students to pull their cards or choose the natural disaster they will research. If using the cards, have students read their scenarios to themselves.

The teacher can choose how to have students approach this task, either independently or as a group by allowing the students who pull the same scenario card to work together. Base this decision on access to computers and the dynamics and needs of your particular students.

Students should conduct research on their natural disaster to better understand the risks and dangers associated. As well as understanding the common hazards associated with the natural disaster students will also learn how to prepare for survival in the event of their natural disaster occurring. This will include researching and listing specific items to include in a preparedness kit. Students will be responsible for answering the questions on their scenario cards either in science notebooks or separate sheets of paper. Encourage students to read all of the information available through these websites rather than just scanning for the answers.

The Red Cross and Ready.org are two excellent sources for information on natural disasters, how to prepare for them, and what to include in preparedness kits.

On the Red Cross website, use the tabs under each heading to navigate the information available for each natural disaster. The tabs are titled, ABOUT, PREPARE, RESPOND DURING, and RECOVER AFTER. The following links will provide information on each of the following:

On the Ready.org website, use the tabs under each heading to navigate the information available for each natural disaster. The tabs are titled, BEFORE, DURING, AFTER, and MORE INFORMATION. The following links will provide information on each of the following:

Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the lesson?

Bring the students back to a whole group. Have students share out the information they researched for each natural disaster. As students are sharing the teacher should add any relevant information on preparing for the disasters to the class anchor chart.

Explain to students that they will now be applying their newly gained knowledge about the hazards of natural disasters to create individual family preparedness plans.

Read as a whole group, disaster preparedness documents from the Red Cross, Ready.govandFEMA to get ideas for individual disaster plans. The teacher should pull these up on a computer that can project for the class. Review the information relevant to this lesson on each of the sites. This would include, planning for an event, what to put in a survival kit, evacuating, securing your home, what to do after an event, what never to do during an event, etc.

Review specific items each student identified for either preparing for a natural disaster or including in a preparedness kit. Add any new ideas or items to the class anchor chart started in the engage section of the lesson.

Now students will plan family natural disaster preparedness plan for their specific family’s needs and apply their new understanding of natural disasters they researched above.

Share the items that student's must include in their preparedness plans for this activity. The teacher can display the attached preparedness plan as they discuss each item. Ensure students understand expectations before moving on with planning.

Students will complete this preparedness at home with a family member or ideally with the entire family. A family involvement letter sample has been included in this lesson. This can be stapled to the family preparedness plan prior to sending home to ensure families read the information together. The letter will provide some background for the purpose of this task as well as how to complete the plan.

Preparedness plans must include:

List at least 15 items that should be included in a survival kit in the event this natural disaster occurs in your area.

List at least two emergency contacts (other family or friends approved by your immediate family) that you could call in to help you during a natural disaster.

List a safe place in your neighborhood for emergencies.

List a safe place out of town for emergencies.

If you have a pet, list your plan for caring for it in the event of a natural disaster.

Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?

There are two games located on this site to review how to react in the event of a natural disaster and what to pack for a survival kit in the event of a natural disaster.

Students work through each level of the games to review the concepts of the lesson.

Students can work in pairs to do these review games, the teacher can have them work independently if computers are available or the teacher can display it whole group and work through each level together. The teacher can also allow students to access this site from home with parental/guardian consent. Allow students to access these games to review their skills frequently throughout the year after completing this lesson.

Summative Assessment

The teacher may use the following rubrics to assess student's participation or to assign grades for answering the questions on the natural disaster scenario cards and completeness of their family preparedness plans.

Formative Assessment

To gauge what students already understand about natural disasters and how to prepare for them. Do not give students any direction before viewing the video, other than to pay attention and observe carefully. http://safeshare.tv/w/IAKhZDAJJR

After playing the video, ask students to share what they think about the following questions:

What was this video showing? (various examples and pictures of natural disasters)

What might all of these natural disasters have in common? (devastate communities, destroy homes and cars, hurt people, etc.)

What can people do to survive events like these? (prepare for them)

In what ways might people prepare for a natural disaster? (elicit students responses and accept all that make sense such as buy fresh water, buy non-perishable foods, have batteries, generators, board windows, put out sandbags)

Why is it important to prepare for a natural disaster? (elicit students responses and accept all that make sense such as having plenty of spare food and water can save your life, protecting your windows can save your life or your house, making sure you fill your car up with gas can ensure you make it to safety, etc.)

Have you discussed with your family what you might do in the event of a natural disaster? If so, what plans did your family make? How will these plans help you in the event of a natural disaster?

As a result of this lesson students will begin to develop individual family preparedness plans for natural disasters. All of the information in this lesson is meaningful to present to students whether they have full or limited understanding of these topics and even if they already have a family preparedness plan in place. Understanding these topics is extremely important and can make all the difference in keeping people safe.

Feedback to Students

During classroom discussions the teacher should facilitate questions to ensure any misconceptions or unsafe thinking about natural disasters is addressed.

As the students are researching their natural disaster scenarios the teacher should be circulating around the room to ensure students are on task and understanding the requirements of the activity.

ASSESSMENT

Feedback to Students:

During classroom discussions the teacher should facilitate questions to ensure any misconceptions or unsafe thinking about natural disasters is addressed.

As the students are researching their natural disaster scenarios the teacher should be circulating around the room to ensure students are on task and understanding the requirements of the activity.

Summative Assessment: The teacher may use the following rubrics to assess student's participation or to assign grades for answering the questions on the natural disaster scenario cards and completeness of their family preparedness plans.

ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Accommodations:

Allow students that may struggle with reading or navigating the websites for research to work with another student.

Print hard copies of the information presented on the websites to assist those students who may struggle with reading from the computer.

Read the natural disaster scenario card to those students who may struggle with reading and comprehending the information. Be sure to check for understanding before students attempt to answer questions 1-7.

Help the students that do not have computer access at home by providing hard copies of local emergency agency phone numbers and even perhaps copies of example preparedness plans from Ready.org and the Red Cross.

Extensions:

Appropriate extension ideas for this lesson could include:

Have students write about or verbally share with the class what their families have done to prepare for natural disasters as a result of learning how to prepare for various natural disasters in this lesson.

Provide a multitude of resources that may or may not appear in an essential survival kit. Have students compile a disaster kit that contains essential items for the family in case of natural disaster emergency. Be sure to discuss any items that should not have been chosen.

If, as a result of this lesson, students and their families put together a survival kit for a natural disaster ask students to take a picture or draw a picture of it and share it with the class.

Groups students into teams of 3 - 4 and have them tape an informational video about natural disaster preparedness.

Special Materials Needed:

Links embedded within the lesson for researching family preparedness plans and natural disasters.

Natural disaster cards (print enough so that each student will have one card)

Family Involvement Letter (print one per student and staple to the front of the Family Preparedness Plan to ensure families read them together)

Family Preparedness Plan (print one per student)

Link for online review game in Closure section.

Summative Assessment rubrics (print one per student if using)

Survival kit resources for extension idea #2, if using

Hard copies of online materials if supporting struggling readers or students without home computers is necessary.

Further Recommendations:

This lesson will require students to complete their family preparedness plans at home. Be sure students clearly understand expectations and that the family involvement letters are sent home to explain the purpose and directions of the task.